W&L law drops 17 positions in U.S. News ranking

William & Mary’s law school moved up while Washington & Lee’s moved down in the 2014 rankings of law schools by U.S. News & World Report.

Most other ranked Virginia law schools hovered at about the same level.

The biggest change was the drop for W&L, which plunged from 26th to 43rd in the annual list. W&M advanced from 33rd to 24th, tied with the University of Washington.

The University of Virginia moved from 7th to 8th. George Mason University dropped from 41st to 46th. The University of Richmond advanced from 53rd to 51st.

The magazine says the rankings are based on a weighted average of 12 measures of quality, with data collected in fall 2013 and early 2014. Surveys of academic leaders are weighted heavily, the magazine says.